Russia Scandal: The “Fake News” That Wasn’t

For many months, we’ve been trying to figure out if there was any attempt at collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign to undermine Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning the presidency. There was plenty of shadiness for sure, but never proof. Until now. When the New York Times informed Donald Trump Jr. of their possession of an email correspondence he had during the campaign and their intent to publish it, Trump Jr. preempted their imminent release and published it himself in the name of “transparency” (what coincidental timing to start valuing transparency!). The email exchange was so blunt, it leaves no room for misinterpretation: Trump Jr. was explicitly told the Russian government wanted to offer Donald Trump incriminating information on Hillary Clinton to support his candidacy, and Trump Jr. responded that he loved it, and subsequently set up the meeting with a Russian government lawyer to get the information. To be clear, we still don’t know what really happened at the meeting (however implausible, it’s theoretically possible the collusion never happened), but what we know for a fact now from this email exchange is that people in the Trump campaign had the intent of colluding with Russia to get their hands on information undermining Hillary Clinton’s candidacy. Current congressman and former prosecutor Ted Lieu (D-CA) says this meeting itself, based on how we know it was set up and regardless of what ultimately happened in it, “more than completes the crime of conspiracy” and is a clear violation of federal law. We’re no longer wondering if there is really a scandal, we’re down to figuring out just how big it is. Oh, and did we mention Jared Kushner was at that meeting too?